Diabetes

What are the different types of diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes

Type 1 diabetes results from the destruction of cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. Since insulin is needed to lower blood sugar the lack of insulin results in diabetes. Primary relatives of patients with Type 1 diabetes now have the opportunity to detect antibody development before diabetes occurs. If found to have antibodies present, siblings of T1 diabetics can take steps to change their eating habits and take supplements that potentially can delay or prevent Type 1 diabetes. The research folks at Trial Net Here: https://www.trialnet.org/our-research are doing good work. Families have banded together here at https://preventt1d.org/ to work towards solutions.

Type 1 diabetes is treated with diet, insulin, and exercise. Insulin is necessary to replace the insulin that a diabetic’s pancreas can no longer make. We cannot recommend Dr. Richard Bernstein’s (himself a healthy T1D in his 80s!) book: Diabetes Solution, highly enough. This book teaches diabetics to eat a minimal amount of carbohydrates and live by the ‘law of small numbers’; that is how to keep your body metabolism requiring as little insulin as necessary. This makes the management of your diabetes a rational, sane experience and saves you from the chaos of living with wildly fluctuating blood sugars. Controlling your diabetes in this way preserves your eyes, kidneys, and limbs and keeps them from becoming non-functional. Bernstein’s book also contains information about every aspect of managing diabetes Many parents of diabetics find this text to be one of the best guides to helping their children manage their T1D well.

Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is the most common type of diabetes. People with this form of diabetes are often overweight. Adipose tissue is able to produce hormones that in turn regulate the production and effect of insulin. With this type of diabetes, carbohydrate consumption is often tied to weight gain, and, as such, low carbohydrate diets can help reverse diabetes.

Prediabetes: Prediabetes is really a form of type 2 diabetes but at an earlier stage. It is estimated that over 65 million Americans are prediabetic. Undetected insulin and glucose levels are chronically high for sometimes over a decade before a diagnosis is made. At The Center for Primary Healthcare, we do not wait for you to develop symptoms before addressing diabetes. We proactively screen patients with risk factors. These include being overweight, a waist circumference exceeding guidelines, family history, and poor dietary habits.

In some cases, pregnant women develop gestational diabetes, though it disappears after the pregnancy is over. Women who had gestational diabetes during their pregnancy are at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes later in their lives.

Note: There are patients who have been diagnosed as Type 1 diabetics who are really Type 2. There are also patients who have been diagnosed as Type 2 diabetics who are really Type 1 diabetic. We at The Center for Primary Healthcare, understand these distinctions, and it is important to know what type of diabetes you have--as diabetes emergencies can be a matter of life and death.

Diabetes affects each person differently, but common symptoms include blurred vision, weight loss, excessive thirst or hunger, frequent or excessive urination, fatigue, dry skin, numbness or tingling in the hands and feet, slow healing sores.

Fasting sugar levels and hemoglobin A1C levels have been the standard tools for detection of the development of diabetes. There is evidence to demonstrate that these labs do not always detect high sugar levels for patients in their silent phase of diabetes. We can draw other labs such as oral glucose tolerance tests, paired with serial insulin levels. If indicated, we do Continuous Glucose Monitoring to obtain a constant graphic reading of your sugar levels over a 3-4 day period of time as described here by Dexacom, (the manufacturer of the CGM device we use): https://www.dexcom.com/continuous-glucose-monitoring. Proactive detection of the onset of diabetes allows many patients to reverse their diabetes or put their diabetes into remission--something long believed impossible.  

How do you treat diabetes?

We treat patients with diabetes Type 2 with our FreshWeigh program. FreshWeigh is our program for patients to achieve and sustain nutritional ketosis.

During the last two decades that we’ve been in practice, more than two dozen new diabetic medications have been developed. None of them have the power to put a patient’s diabetes into remission like the power of someone’s own ketones.

FreshWeigh assists patients to adopt a diet high in good fats, moderate protein and restricted carbohydrates which result in the production of ketone bodies. Patients are able to adhere to this diet without tremendous difficulty as it is very satisfying. Ketones serve as an alternative fuel source for the body instead of glucose. It is wonderful for us to walk alongside patients who bring their sugar levels into a normal range, who lose 10-50+ pounds and whose lipid profiles return to normal.

Ketones have powerful anti-inflammatory effects on body tissues, which helps to reduce the low-grade inflammation central to diabetes and the cardiovascular diseases that diabetes promotes. People often feel a couple of decades younger, as their inflammation lifts in their tissues and joints. The glucotoxicity involved with microvascular changes in the eyes, kidneys, and nerves is also addressed through nutritional ketosis. Within two months of maintaining nutritional ketosis, patients can expect to see their metabolism significantly reduced. We are also able to help patients eliminate many if not all of their diabetic medications. Patients high blood pressure is also positively addressed through this way of living.

FreshWeigh offers patients the freedom from the dismal prognosis given to T2D in the past. FreshWeigh gives our patients confidence to look towards a healthy way to age and live strong. Dr. Crevier holds free public forums to explain this program, please consult our online calendar (Here)

At the Center for Primary Healthcare, we make it a major goal to help REVERSE DIABETES.

The team at The Center for Primary Healthcare is committed to your long-term health. Through compassionate and individualized treatment, they can help you manage your diabetes successfully. Get in touch by phone or online today to book an appointment.